2025 is currently tied with 2023 to be the second-warmest year on record, according to new data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

2025 is now virtually certain to finish as the second or third-warmest year on record, possibly tied with 2023, the current second-warmest year, and behind 2024, the warmest year on record, and whilst 2025 may not reach 1.5C above the pre-industrial level, the average global temperature for 2023–2025 is likely to exceed 1.5C, which would be the first three-year average to do so in the instrumental period.

“These milestones are not abstract – they reflect the accelerating pace of climate change and the only way to mitigate future rising temperatures is to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

The monthly climate update for November 2025 also revealed that it was the third-warmest globally, with notably warmer-than-average temperatures recorded across Northern Canada and the Arctic Ocean.

To bring home the importance of this, the month was marked by a number of extreme weather events, including tropical cyclones in Southeast Asia, causing widespread, catastrophic flooding and loss of life.

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